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If you weren’t already convinced that city life is becoming increasingly preferable to suburban life, see this article in The New Republic, which looks at a trend called “demographic inversion”&#8212a reversal of the white flight that helped hollow out the inner city beginning in the 1950s. The author quantifies what many Brooklynites already know: the neighborhoods closest to vocational and cultural hubs (like, dare we say, Manhattan) and with shopping and services in walking distance are the most popular, forcing poorer folks to move further and further out. There’s been plenty of talk about the suburbs potentially turning into 21st century slums but what will 21st century cities look like if demographic inversion continues? “In the worst case, demographic inversion would result in the poor living out of sight and largely forgotten in some new kind of high-rise projects beyond the city border, with the wealthy huddled in gated enclaves in the center.”
Trading Places [The New Republic]
Beyond Gentrification [Curbed]
Photo by Daily Phototherapy.


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  1. wasder, actually, The What made his prediction on July 28, not July 31, so Doomsday is actually October 26. Please refer to his prediction in his post at 2:32 at this link
    http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/07/bedstuy_do_or.php#comments

    And this gets even better! Check out the posting by DOW at 2:34 on this link. This is clearly the What (trying to disguise himself with acceptable grammar)
    http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/07/house_of_the_da_539.php#comments

  2. Biff—we can keep him honest on his day count. Should be at 81 or 82 now. He won’t keep it himself because when you are spouting indefensible garbage the last things you want are actual facts or time markers.

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